The Richest Man in Babylon: Seven Cures for a Lean Purse

Years later, Babylon had a problem: its great building works were finished, and most people had nothing left to show for their wages.The gold had run through their fingers into the hands of a few rich men.So the king asked Arkad, now seventy years old, to teach a class of one hundred men how to fill their purses.

Arkad turned to an egg merchant. “If you put ten eggs into a basket every morning and take out nine every evening, what will happen?”“In time it will overflow,” said the man, “because each day I put in one more egg than I take out.”“That is the first cure,” said Arkad. “For every ten coins you put in your purse, take out only nine.Do not laugh at it because it is simple. Truth is always simple.”

On the second day he warned them that what we call our ‘necessary expenses’ always grow to equal our income, unless we stop them.So make a budget, he said, and cross out the wishes that nine tenths of your income cannot pay for.Next, make your gold multiply by lending or investing it wisely, and guard it from loss by trusting only safe plans and the advice of experienced people.

The fifth cure was to own your home, and the sixth was to prepare an income for old age and for your family.The seventh, Arkad said, was one of the most important of all: increase your ability to earn.“The more wisdom we have, the more we may earn. Study, become more skilful, and stay in the front rank of progress.There is more gold in Babylon than you dream of. There is plenty for all.”